Referenced in: none

Automatically associated channels: ClC4

Title: Review. Proton-coupled gating in chloride channels.

Authors: Jirí Lísal, Merritt Maduke

Journal, date & volume: Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., B, Biol. Sci., 2009 Jan 27 , 364, 181-7

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18957380

Abstract
The physiologically indispensable chloride channel (CLC) family is split into two classes of membrane proteins: chloride channels and chloride/proton antiporters. In this article we focus on the relationship between these two groups and specifically review the role of protons in chloride-channel gating. Moreover, we discuss the evidence for proton transport through the chloride channels and explore the possible pathways that the protons could take through the chloride channels. We present results of a mutagenesis study, suggesting the feasibility of one of the pathways, which is closely related to the proton pathway proposed previously for the chloride/proton antiporters. We conclude that the two groups of CLC proteins, although in principle very different, employ similar mechanisms and pathways for ion transport.